The diplomat, Charlotte Nana Yaa Nikoi was last seen on March 21 as she walked on the Table Mountain in Cape Town on Human Rights Day.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Z0sYOdynz7GFcO4zbLdDgBmAeG2tBxVl”]A rescue team in South Africa said, the Ghanaian who is also a director of UNICEF did not disappear on the tour site.

But Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Foreign Affairs Minister said Ghana is closely monitoring the situation and is hopeful the government of South Africa will lead the efforts to unravel the truth behind the diplomat’s disappearance.

She told Citi News, “Just last week the Senior Minister and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs were in South Africa and they sought audience with the South African President, Jacob Zuma and he has taken the matter up… He has made a statement on it asking the security services of South Africa to quickly work on this matter and find a resolution to it”

“It has received attention at the very high level. Our president [Akufo-Addo] will soon be speaking to the President of South Africa. We are watching carefully and keeping an eye on what is happening. A human being cannot disappear just like that. Something happened and we need to get to the bottom of this,” she added.

A spokesperson for the South African Wilderness Search and Rescue team, Johan Marais is reported to have said that despite volunteers working with Skymed aerial rescue services to search the mountain, there was no sign of Yaa Nikoi.

“We are 95% sure that she is not in the area we went to search for her. Which means she came off the mountain and was either taken away or went away from that area,” Marais said.

At the time of her disappearance, Nikoi wore light-blue shorts, a cream, black and brown cardigan, a sleeveless black top, brown sneakers, and oval-shaped glasses.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ministry intensifies search for missing Ghanaian diplomat in SA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The two, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby who were in detention for 14 years after being linked with terrorist group Al-Qaeda, were brought to Ghana in 2016, to be reintegrated back into their home countries.

The decision by the Mahama-led administration was met with massive public uproar, as many describing it as a threat to national security.

Several members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) kicked against the decision.

However, speaking to Citi News’ Umaru Sanda Amadu after taking her turn at the Appointments Committee of Parliament, the Minister nominee for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, failed to disclose whether or not the NPP government will review the agreement.

She said “they are one year into the agreement, so we have another year to go before the agreement that was signed comes to an end.”

When she probed further, Ayorkor Botchwey said, “I don’t know [whether it will be reviewed or not], this is sub-judice so I don’t think that I want to make any comment on it.”

“But I’m just saying that we are one year into the agreement, the agreement is for two years, when we come to that bridge we will cross it. It is an agreement, the agreement has already been done,” the Minister nominee added.

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey appeared before the Appointments Committee on Monday where she was vetted.

However the Defence Minister-nominee, Dominic Nitiwul, has said the NPP administration will take a decision on the two men.

No security threat

The US Embassy in Ghana had in January 2016, assured Ghanaians that the presence of the two former detainees, posed no threat to the security of the country.

Some two Ghanaians subsequently sued government over the decision.

The two Ghanaians, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye, accused former President John Mahama of illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo detainees, without recourse to the laws of the land.

The plaintiffs sought among other reliefs a “declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the President of the Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.”

The Supreme Court in 2016 ordered the  government of Ghana to release its agreement with the United States government regarding the acceptance of two Guantanamo Bay detainees into the country.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post ‘Gitmo 2 likely to stay in Ghana till end of contract’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.